The Raggedy Man and the Girl Who Waited
by Hope.J
Summary: Amelia Pond, a name in a fairytale, a girl who waited, a person who saved the Doctor's life, and this is how her story ends. /Angels Take Mahattan AU.
1. Part 1 of the End

"Raggedy man." Amelia Pond uttered, with tears in her voice. The wind was blowing her hair into her face, as she stood in a graveyard. But not just any graveyard, it was the graveyard where her husband was buried.

Her eyes, swollen from crying, remained fixated on the cruel yet beautiful Weeping Angel statue standing in front of her, the fingers outstretched. The face carved from stone, frozen in time, as a mechanism of defense from her seeing the angel.

She heard the doctor pleading with her in the background, pleading for her to stay with him, to walk backwards into the Tardis and fly safely off to the cosmos with him.

But she couldn't. She wouldn't.

The weeping angel in front of her, the destroyer of her world, had sent her husband back into time, consuming all the days he lived, feasting upon the energy. Thus the very reason why she was standing on his grave.

He had lived and died in those seconds she was breathing. He had lived years, decades, alone without her, in the past. A lifetime alone, without his wife.

If she blinked, the angel would move and take her too, send her back in time, back to Rory.

Back to where she should be. Her and Rory, together.

"You're creating a fixed point in time, I will never be able to see you again." The doctor said, desperately trying to convince her that she was wrong. That she should stay with her best friend, her raggedy doctor, and live.

"I'll be fine; I'll be with him." Amy whispered, pain in her voice, trying to reassure herself and the doctor.

The doctor tried again, pleading with the full weight of his words.

Her face crumpled, as tears started to flood through her eyes. She wanted desperately to turn around and look at her raggedy doctor one more time. She wanted to hug him, and say her goodbye with all the time in the world.

A part of her wanted to stay with him, wanted to let go of Rory. But she knew, she would never be able to let go, she knew she would never be able to live without him.

Her heart broke in half, as she uttered "Raggedy man," and paused, her voice cracking.

She whirled away from the weeping angel, and locked eyes with the man who saved her from her empty life, the man who showed her the whole of the cosmos, the man who looked young, but whose eyes carried the weight of the world.

"Goodbye."

The angel touched the red-haired girl and she disappeared from the graveyard on that fateful day in New York City, never to see her raggedy doctor again.


	2. Part 2 of the End

The doctor had known loss, had known pain, had known loneliness and anguish, after all he had lived 900 years.

Living that long, he's lost more than his fair share of companions.

But no loss, no pain, had ever cut him as deep as the loss of the Ponds. Amy and Rory were gone from him, disappeared as fast as a breath on a mirror.

He was absolutely gutted, sitting on the steps in his Tardis, staring straight ahead, not knowing how to live with the rest of his days.

His eyes rested on the curly-haired girl pulling levers and pushing buttons on the control mainframe of his spaceship.

River Song, a dear friend, and half time-lord, was flying the Tardis away from the weeping angels.

Eyes crystal blue, feeling his gaze, fixed back on him, she then told him in no uncertain terms should he ever be alone. He needs to find someone new, someone to travel with. A man like the Doctor should never be alone. Never.

He offered her to travel with him, to live adventures anew, across the cosmos, yet in a lackluster way. No one could ever replace the Ponds.

She smiled at him in the characteristic River Song way; endearing with a touch of condescending.

"Anytime, anywhere." But she added "Not all the time though, only one psychopath per spaceship don't you think."

His heart sunk a little further, not surprised at her answer.

She told him, that she should write the book and send it to Amy. The book that started the whole adventure, the mystery that took away the Ponds.

Yet she had to do it, because it was a fixed point in time, and she couldn't screw around with that.

He agreed quickly, not wanting to talk about it anymore. He tried to wave her off.

She told him then, as she was leaving, that she would ask Amy to write an afterward, for him. Without looking back, she walked out of the Tardis, and back into the past, where Amy and Rory lived.

He pondered her parting words, and realized, he had ripped the last page out of the book, claiming he doesn't like endings.

He never read that afterward.

This understanding dawning on him, propelled him to fly the Tardis back to New York, back to that boulder they had once lunched on, in Central Park, back where he left that paper sitting atop the basket, upon that boulder.

He found the yellowed page, and promptly put his glasses on and read.


	3. Part 3 of the End

"Hello, old friend, and here we are, you and me on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well and were very happy. And above all else, know that we will love you, always. Sometimes I do worry about you, though. I think once we're gone, you won't be coming back here for a while and you might be alone, which you should never be. _Don't be alone, Doctor._ And do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two-thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond. _And this is how it ends."_

His chest hurt, but he smiled nonetheless, the bright words of Amelia Pond once again penetrating his hearts. His first smile in so many black days.

He would do as she told. He would fly back to the little girl and give her hope.

In a rush, at the speed of the likes which he hadn't seen in years, he hopped back into his Tardis, and hit as many buttons as he had to, taking him back to Amelia Pond, a name in a fairytale, the girl who waited, the person who would save the Doctor.


	4. Part 4 of the End

The night was cold, and long. She had been sitting on her suitcase for hours upon hours waiting for that weird raggedy man to come back and take her away. To save her from her lonely life.

She was scared of that crack in her wall. Sometimes, she would even hear little whispers saying that "Prisoner Zero had escaped". She didn't know what those words meant. All she knew, was that crack in the wall, was two parts of time and space that never should have touched.

She knew that the Doctor, the weird raggedy man, with a craving for fried fish and custard, had saved her from that crack with a wave of his weird wand.

He said five minutes, he would be gone only five minutes.

She packed, and was ready to follow him to the ends of the world. Or even the ends of the universe.

Her breath came out in little puffs, as she tucked her fiery hair, which flowed out from underneath her knit cap, behind her ears.

Eventually, the sun started to rise, and the stars started to fade, and still she waited.

Just as her hopes had sunk low enough for her to give up, and go back inside. She heard the most wonderful sound in the world, the sound that little did she know would drive enemies far and wide, across the cosmos, screaming. The sound that would fuel hope in the hearts of many, the sound that meant the Doctor had arrived.

The wheezing, groaning sound of the blue police call box sounded to her ears.

In excitement she stood up, watching the box phase into view. She walked forward toward the ship, as the doors clicked open.

Yet the man who stepped out, was not the same man that had left. He was still the Doctor, yet he had looked different. He was not wearing the same raggedy clothes, he was changed into a tan tweed jacket, with a button up blue shirt, that had black suspenders and a bowtie around his neck.

Not only was he wearing different clothes, but his eyes looked different. His face hadn't aged a day, but his eyes had. His eyes once young, now carried the weight of the world. He looked as if he had seen things, and done things, that she could never imagine.

"Hello Amelia Pond." He said gently, and with a heaviness she had never seen him have.

"Well, are we ready to go? I brought and packed my suitcase and everything. I'm ready to go." Amy replied, gesturing to the suitcase that laid at her feet.

She started to pick it up, when she heard

"No."

Startled, she dropped and looked back at the Doctor.

"We're not going. At least not today."

Her brows scrunched in confusion, and her hopes were dashed.

"I came only to tell you to not give up on me. To keep waiting. To give you hope." The doctor continued, walking toward Amy, looking into her young face.

"But, if we're not going now, then when? How long do I have to wait?" She asked impatiently, her seven-year old mind racing with possibilities.

"Quite a bit of a long time. But, Amelia Pond, the first face this face saw, if you're patient, then days are coming that you will never forget. Days that are a part of the legend that was Amelia Pond." He said gently, with a sad smile crossing his face.

"What do you mean?" She asked, confusion only increasing.

"Oh, you will do spectacular things Pond, You'll go to sea and fight pirates, you'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space." The Doctor replied, his voice knowing, his words kind.

"A whale? In outer space? Really?" She inquired, hope tracing through her voice.

"You'll even fall in love with a man who will wait two thousand years to keep you safe." He continued, smiling at her confused face.

Her smile fell, and sadness crossed her features.

"But I'm only Amelia Pond, a Scottish girl, living in a no-name village in England. I'm not special, not anyone really." She muttered looking down, and shuffling her toes.

The doctor kneeled down to her height, and looked her in the eyes, and with words he truly believed in, with both of his hearts, he told her

"Amelia Pond, a name in a fairytale, a girl who waited, a person who saved my life, you are truly special. Did you know, that in 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before."

She smiled back, not knowing she would hold onto this moment, to his words, and turn it over and over in her mind like a smoothened pebble over the course of her life. In the blackest of moments, she would look upon this, and find her strength.

After a firm hug, the Doctor then stood up, and smiled, finally looking a little like her raggedy doctor, and brightly said

"Well, I best be going. Planets to save, civilizations to protect, time to travel in. You know, the usual."

He walked back to the box, and hesitated turning around and looked upon that little red-haired girl, standing in a tiny yard, in front of an empty house.

Amelia Pond lifted her hand in a wave goodbye, sure she was going to see him again.

Slowly he lifted his hand and waved back at her, tears threatening his eyes.

He turned and closed the door with an audible click.

This was the story of Amelia Pond _. And this is how it ends._


End file.
